IDF Deputy Chief Of Staff Caught Up In New Storm Over Comments Made 10 Years Ago

Carolyn Kaster/Pool/Getty16 May 2016

The Jerusalem Post reports: Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan (pictured above, far right) is once again in the headlines. Channel 2 News released a recording from a decade ago, in which Golan, then the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, was speaking to a group of youths preparing for their IDF service.

“Considering that we are dealing with a civilian population, it is just that we take upon ourselves risks [in the line of duty],” Golan is heard saying, in a recording of his remarks.

“It is unimaginable that in an effort to ensure our soldiers’ safety, we can destroy whole apartment buildings. Killing women, children, uninvolved civilians. Unacceptable. The use of force in civilian areas must always be kept under control, and restricted to the minimum necessary,” he said.

“It is unacceptable to take human life unjustifiably. Therefore, a military unit should take risks in order not to hurt innocent bystanders, but, if the unit is operating in the vicinity where there are only terrorists, then it must act in the safest [to the soldiers] manner possible.”